I love Mary Poppins and Mao is just simply adorable here. I haven’t seen such happy energy from her for a while and I’m happy that she’s still forging on with a smile on her face. This exhibition is nowhere in the league of her Por una Cabeza or Chopin’s Ballade no. 1 but it’s still entertaining and her double axels are breathtaking. I could just watch them over and over again. Here’s to hoping for a good season for her!

Enjoy~!

~The Rinkside Cafe

P.S. Who else thinks that if Mao can’t skate singles anymore, she should go into ice dance. I’m sure she and Takahiko together would be better than the Reeds.

I had to sift through a ton of videos in order to find a video of Mao and Takahiko practicing their ice dance/pair program to music from Lupin the 3rd with that twizzle sequence. Seriously, I’m super impressed with Mao’s footwork. (She’s one of the few ladies with footwork sequences that are intricate and NOT boring to watch.) If she can’t jump anymore, I hope she finds a good partner and takes up ice dancing. She could be pretty darn good at it.

I’ve been searching for the finished product for a little while and can’t seem to find it. Does anyone know if such a video exists? If so, a link would be greatly appreciated.

Also, the new figure skating season is approaching. I’ll probably be posting something on the highlights of the 2010/2011 season and some exciting things to look forward to in the 2011/2012 season.

~The Rinkside Cafe

Edit: Many thanks to Rino, who found it!

Jeff Buttle continues to be fabulous and it’s lovely to see Mirai be her charismatic self. I sense some sort of improvement from her but I have yet to pinpoint how she’s improved in the past few months. As for Mao, I still think she should take up ice dancing when her singles days are over. Footwork and twizzles are no joke.

This is a recent video of Mao at The Ice skating show in Japan. I’m not a huge fan of the music or the choreography but it’s nice to see her landing her jumps. They’re a hair lower than I’d like to see them but she’s landing them and that’s a good sign for next season.

Whenever I watch Mao, I just can’t help but note her wonderful qualities like her great skating skills and her lyrical movement. I simply cannot relegate her to the position of “has been” like Caroline Zhang because she’s far from being a “has been.” She’s still sublime and she’s got fans who hope that her divinity can transfer to medals when the competitive season begins. For now, it’s encouraging to see that’s she’s still got a hopeful energy (her little speech in the opening program was pretty cute – it was all about giving happiness and hope to people after the devastating earthquake in Japan) and the beginnings of solid jumps.

Here’s to hoping that Mao can be competitive against Yuna and the baby Russian divas! Cheers!

~The Rinkside Cafe

For more videos from The Ice, the lovely people at ontd_skating have made a post about it.

Just a postscript: doesn’t Kanako Murakami’s skating in this show sort of remind you of Joannie Rochette? Not that being an Olympic bronze medalist is a bad thing, but I feel as if Kanako can do a lot better in terms of choreography.